Prelude to Rebellion
by Heichou's Pet
Summary: Levi has never revealed anything of his past to anyone. But now that his surname is known, the secrets start to come out, and Erwin is determined to learn more. This is a prequel to a longer work of mine that's in-progress about Levi's childhood.


WARNING: Contains some spoilers, if you haven't read the manga.

Also, this is my first Attack on Titan fanfiction, so I apologize if there's some OOC-ness. I'll get better at it. I wrote it in about a half hour too, so it may not be the best.

* * *

The stack of papers fell to the desk with a rustling noise that caused the smaller man to look up. The commander of the Survey Corps, Erwin Smith, stared wide-eyed at the empty space in his hands where the papers had been before he'd dropped them in shock. His second-in-command, Lance-Corporal Levi Ackerman (Ackerman? Levi Ackerman…. It still didn't sound right to him), sat across the desk from him, the same deadpan expression on his face that he always wore.

"I must admit, Levi… I always knew you had secrets, but to find out you're in relation to Mikasa Ackerman…?"

"What does it matter? It's not a blood relation anyway…"

Erwin cocked an eyebrow at this. "What is it, then?"

Levi crossed his arms and sat back in the chair, draping one slender leg over the other. He scowled at Erwin. "For someone in as high a position as you to not know about adoption? To think the Corps has been being run by an idiot all these years..."

"Levi." Erwin frowned. It was normal for the younger man to disrespect him and ignore his orders, but for Levi to outright call him an idiot? It was unfathomable.

The short man sighed, closing his eyes before opening his mouth to speak. "I didn't find out until much later in life, but the man I grew up calling my father wasn't actually my biological father. That man died before my brother and I were even born, and my mother remarried rather quickly, taking her new husband's last name. He adopted my brother and me, and we took the last name on as well…"

Both blonde eyebrows now rose in surprise. "Brother, huh? My, Levi, I'm just learning more and more about you by the second…"

"God dammit, Erwin, we don't really have time for this now, do we?"

"Whatever become of your brother, Levi? And you said your biological father died before both of you were born… does that mean you're twins?" The commander smiled at that, imagining how much the Corps would persevere with a second Levi in their midst. If the other man would be anything like the brother, a whole heard of Titans wouldn't stand a chance against the both of them.

The shorter man huffed, standing up from his seat so suddenly that it skidded backward and Erwin flinched.

"I have more important things to do right now than tell you all the little details of my past."

Before turning on his heel and walking out, Erwin managed to catch a glimpse of something in the steel gray eyes of the other man. Something he'd never seen before. Something he never thought he'd see there and something that perturbed him to see.

Sorrow.

Suddenly feeling a bit guilty as the door of his office slammed shut, Erwin wondered if he should have asked such questions. He'd called Levi in for paperwork. Now that they knew his surname, after all, their records needed to be updated. Since they now knew Levi was in relation to the Ackermans, whether through blood or not, it meant he had next of kin. If something were to happen to Levi on a mission, they could find whom to give his belongings to.

But what had just occurred seemed more like an interrogation to him. It wasn't at all how he'd wanted it to go down, but that was the truth of it. Sighing lightly and straightening the files he had on the other man, he slipped them into a folder and settled them in a drawer of his desk. He'd have to try again tomorrow.

* * *

"I hope you don't mind making this quick, Erwin. I left the brats in charge of laundry, and I don't trust them with my uniform…"

Erwin smirked, looking up as Levi entered his office, shutting the door quietly behind him and taking long strides across the room. "Don't worry about that. If something happens to it, we'll just order you a new one."

Levi shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'd really rather not. Do you know how embarrassing it is having my measurements taken? That damned seamstress always likes to point out I wear the same size as her ten year old daughter…"

Erwin couldn't help but let a laugh escape his throat. "Alright, alright…. I'll try to make it as quick as I can so you can go back and supervise. Take a seat."

The other man did just that, sitting in the chair across the desk from him and immediately taking up the same position he always did. Arms crossed over his chest, right leg crossed over the left.

_It's a defense… he's drawing into himself. Trying to protect himself from something…_

"Now, Levi… about yesterday."

Levi let out an exasperated sigh. "I thought I'd made it clear to you yesterday that I didn't want to talk about it."

The blonde shook his head. "No, no… I'm not going to ask any questions we don't need for our records. The whole reason I called you in here yesterday was so you could help me update the files we have on you, now that we know your surname and all." He pulled the folder containing Levi's records out of the drawer, opening it up on the desk before him.

"What exactly do you need?"

"Well, we need you to list a next of kin, just in case the worst were to happen."

Gray eyes hardened, a foot tapping in impatience. "I don't care, just list the Ackerman brat. Her and Jaeger can have my cleaning supplies if I die. I leave you in charge of teaching them how to properly use them. Is that all, now?"

"Levi…"

Erwin scowled, knowing the other man was not taking this seriously. There was a moment of tense silence between the two as they held and angry staring match across the wooden platform between them. Finally, Levi looked away, sighing lightly.

"He's dead, you know…"

"Huh?" Erwin placed his elbows on the desk, resting his chin on hands with fingers intertwined.

"My brother." Levi mumbled the words, and Erwin noted that he had never seen the other like this before. He seemed…. Broken. He still sat in his defensive position, though his head was turned to the side, black hair blocking his eyes from view, and he was slumped in the chair. He didn't know whether to feel sympathetic, or to feel honored that Levi would trust him enough to show himself like this to him. He knew the other wouldn't ever allow himself to look so helpless in front of anyone else.

"Oh… I see. I'm sorry to hear that…"

In a split second, the stoic demeanor was back, the hopeless man Erwin had seen just a moment before gone like a Titan's blood. It just… disappeared.

"You know about what I did, Erwin… the day you found me in the Underground factory."

Erwin nodded. There weren't many who didn't know of what Levi had done, nearly fourteen years ago. But, by Levi's request, no one dared speak of it.

"Obviously I didn't work alone that day… there were others, including my twin brother, Lucius. Every single one of those who helped me that day, died…. Including him."

Erwin nodded. "I see."

"Now, as for my 'next of kin', just put Mikasa Ackerman, seeing as she's the only living relative I seem to have."

Erwin nodded again, scribbling the girl's name down on the sheet of paper he'd pulled out from the stack.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, for now. You may go, Levi… Thank you."

Without another word, the shorter man got up and left, and Erwin could hear him through the wooden door and down the hall, barking orders at the trainees, back to his usual self. Levi had always been good at hiding his emotions; not letting anyone know what he was really feeling or if anything were bothering him. It was partly thanks to that trait that made him such an amazing soldier, and was a trait Erwin wished more of his men possessed.

However, he knew it was sometimes good to let your emotions out. Though they were humanity's greatest hope, they were still humans themselves. Every member of the Survey Corps had feelings and emotions, whether they liked to admit it or not. He knew from personal experience how good it felt to just break down and cry about anything and everything that was bothering you. It was a good stress-reliever. It kept him sane in some of the most trying times he'd faced since taking leadership over the death-riddled military branch.

He wasn't sure how Levi dealt with it, but he had a feeling that the moment of weakness he'd seen here in this office was the beginning of the man loosening up a bit.

There were still many questions he had left, however. And the name Levi had mentioned, Lucius…

He could have sworn he'd heard it somewhere before.

* * *

Well, that's that! This was just meant to be a bit of an introduction to a longer fic I'm working on at the moment called 'Rebellion'. Want to know what Levi did 'That Day' that was mentioned? Want to know more about Lucius, the brother no one knew Levi had? Well then, stay tuned for Rebellion. Thanks for reading, and be sure to review! Constructive criticism is welcome, just be nice please. :3


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